The End of the school year is here! That's right and some school district's are actually DONE for the year...and what a year it was and for some still is. YOU'RE Tired...exhausted...ready for summer....can just about drag yourself out of bed in time to grab a cup of coffee before you head out to school...AND...you still have 2 weeks of school left...If your year was or is a bit...well...let's just say a bit difficult, then why not end the year with a BANG using 3 of my all time favorite crafts and ideas that your students and parents will absolutely love?
ANNNNDDDDD...they will lessen the load for YOU since they are already to go! NO THINKING required...no lost sleep trying to figure out what to do and the ideas are motivating and FUN FOR ALL!
🌞 Think about the Amazing 2021 Summer
With a year like we have had and everyone looking forward to summer as some of our Covid mandates are lessening or gone, encourage your kiddos to think about the summer they have been waiting for for 2 years!
I am pretty sure that many children will be heading to a pool or the beach at some point this summer even if it is simply a above ground blow up pool in the backyard.
So why not end the year with this fun end of year summer craft?
These can be used for an end of year celebration, bulletin board and then sent home with your students to hang in a room in their house to remind them of some of the activities they would like to accomplish over the summer. There are many choices included and you can choose a writing activity or a mobile to hang from the ceiling!
🌞 Create a Memory Book about the School Year
This is something that I am sure you have all used, but I have a few ways to make it a little different than your average memory book.
When I have created end of the year memory books, I usually made them in a way that children had some individual pages and also some pages written by groups of classmates or by peers.
Here's what we did:
1. Brainstormed favorite activities that we did throughout the year or ideas that stood out. I am sure this year there will be many.
2. Children or partners chose an idea or topic to write about for the book.
3. You can use a memory page from the book that fits or simply plain paper.
4. Be sure to make a copy for every child to add to their book.
5. Then have children choose pages from the memory book option writing frames.
Let's take a look at some of the optional pages in this Memory Book for Grades 1-3:
If you would like to add some special pages to each student's Memory Book, here is a great idea to add!
One more great idea, which can be added to the Memory Book or just given to each student!
DRUM ROLL PLEASE..........THE FINAL IDEA for the End of the year:
🌞 Have your Students Write a Letter to Next Year's Class
Simply brainstorm some ideas of what the class loved about school this year and have each student write a letter to next year's class about all the fun they had during the 2020-21 school year! SIMPLE and FUN! In September you can share a few letters to give your new students a soft landing on the first day of school!
Another way to do this is to write a class letter on chart paper that you can have each student sign and then use it as your morning message for the first day of school.
Any way you choose is sure to be fun and exciting for your current students and your new students!
